


the talk

by totallyunrelated



Series: awkward conversations with aang and zuko [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Gen, aang is given the talk by none other than zuko, aang's innocence is ruined, during "the southern raiders"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:47:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25706890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totallyunrelated/pseuds/totallyunrelated
Summary: Aang hears strange noises coming from Sokka and Suki's tent and asks Sokka about it the next morning. Zuko suddenly finds himself with the responsibility of giving a clueless twelve-year-old Avatar "The Talk".
Relationships: Aang & Sokka (Avatar), Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Aang/Katara (Avatar), Mai/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar)
Series: awkward conversations with aang and zuko [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1864663
Comments: 35
Kudos: 324





	the talk

Zuko was still mulling on his strange interaction with Suki and Sokka the night before when he woke the next morning, desperately trying (and failing) to get _that_ image of Sokka out of his head. _Ugh._ And to make matters worse, during the night he’d heard a few unmistakable grunts, thumps and muffled groans coming from their tent. He’d tried his best to block out the sounds, setting out his sleeping bag further away from them, but there was only so much space, and he didn’t want to be singled out as easy prey by anyone travelling by. He just hoped nobody else heard, especially since the others were all so young - Toph and Aang were only twelve, and Katara only fourteen. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

Aang, who was infuriatingly energetic at this time of day, bounded up to Sokka, who was just emerging from his tent, yawning and rubbing at his eyes. Apparently _someone_ didn’t get much sleep last night.

“Hey, Sokka! I heard some noises coming from your tent last night, what happened? Are you okay?”

Sokka froze and turned unnaturally pale. Zuko focused all his attention on packing up his belongings, praying that he wouldn’t get dragged into this mess. Suki, emerging from her own tent, made a choking sound and quickly disguised it as a cough, scurrying away from Sokka and Aang as fast as humanly possible, mumbling an excuse about going to wash up. His suspicions confirmed, Zuko hid a grimace. Though he’d certainly bonded with most of the gaang, especially Suki and Sokka through their ordeal at the Boiling Rock, would tentatively consider them friends now (and wasn’t that a strange notion? He didn’t think he had ever actually had friends before) there were some things that he did not, and would never, need to know.

“Uh, um, yeah, fine! I was just…just, uh, practicing…fighting. With, uh, my - sword.” Sokka stuttered his way through a half-baked explanation, looking away shiftily.

“In your _tent?”_ asked Aang dubiously. “I mean, isn’t that kinda dangerous? You could have come outside to practice, there’s plenty of space over there.” He waved a hand vaguely. “You probably wouldn’t even have woken anyone. Besides, I heard Suki’s voice, too. Did you guys have a fight or something?”

Sokka seized onto the flimsy excuse like a lifeline. “Yes! Yes, um, we did have a fight, actually, it got pretty bad…heh…”

“Oh. That sucks,” said Aang sympathetically. Then he brightened considerably. “Do you need my help? You know, I’m the Avatar, bringer of peace. It would be good practice!”

“Uhhhh…” said Sokka, clearly casting around for a believable lie. Zuko pitied him, and was very glad that he had never been in that situation, because Mai had a _killer_ glare and a lot of knives at her disposal. Azula certainly didn’t care what they got up to in their spare time, and Ty Lee had taken one look at Mai’s murderous expression and wisely shut her mouth.

“Come on, we’re going to be travelling together for the next few weeks and it will be awkward if you guys are fighting,” pleaded Aang. “And I need to brush up on my diplomatic skills too. It’s a win-win, Sokka! Please let me help.”

“Actually, we weren’t fighting,” blurted Sokka, clearly unable to come up with any reason for a fight. He groaned and slapped his face, evidently knowing that this would just lead to more questioning and regretting every decision he had ever made. “No, I, I mean, we were, uhhhh…”

“Why are you stuttering so much?” asked Aang. “What happened? You know you can tell me anything, right?”

They had all forgotten about Toph, still in her earth tent, until that very moment, when she blasted down the walls very suddenly and declared loudly, “They were having _sex,_ Twinkletoes! Now shut up and let me go back to sleep.” She stomped her feet and brought the walls back up, leaving dead silence in her wake.

Zuko turned, just a little bit, just so he could see their expressions. Sokka’s mouth was hanging wide open, his face crimson red, while Aang just looked confused and concerned.

“You-you-” Sokka began to splutter. “ _Toph Beifong!_ You are twelve! How do you know this??”

Toph did not deign to reply, simply jostling the earth under Sokka’s feet, making him lose his balance. He started muttering under his breath, glaring darkly at her tent.

“What’s _sex?”_ asked Aang, curious and clueless as ever. This time even Zuko turned to stare at him. Aang stared back at them, openly confused.

 _Of course._ Aang was an Air Nomad, raised by monks. If Zuko had heard correctly, most of their people stayed celibate, only mating to have children, who were then raised by monks and nuns. Why would he know about sex? Especially since he’d only been twelve when he’d run away. In the Fire Nation, children were taught as early as age ten, but that certainly was not the case among the Air Nomads.

“It’s...uh…” Sokka spotted Zuko, and also a potential way out of this situation. He pointed. “Actually, Aang, why don’t you go ask Zuko? I’m sure he’ll know, and it would be a good bonding experience.” As soon as Aang looked away, he bolted, sprinting away even faster than Aang on an air scooter.

“Sokka…?” called Aang, but he was too far away. He sighed and headed towards Zuko, presumably seeing him as the only way he would ever get answers.

Zuko blanched as soon as he heard his name. _No, no, no…_ he pleaded silently, looking for a way to escape. But there was none: he’d chosen to sleep close to the cliff, and now was backed into a corner. He silently cursed himself for choosing to join the Avatar. He had _not_ known he would be dealing with a bunch of preadolescent kids and having to give The Talk to a twelve-year-old who was also the Avatar. He _did not sign up for this. Why_ couldn’t Suki, or Katara, have been around so they could do it instead? Actually, scratch that. Suki would be a blushing mess, and he had seen how Aang looked at Katara. _That_ would certainly not have gone down well.

“Hey, Zuko, what’s sex? Sokka said I should ask you.”

Zuko nearly groaned out loud. Why, why, _why_ did it have to be him? Was this his punishment for all those months trying to hunt this very same boy down? 

“If I tell you that you’ll know when you’re older, will you let it go?” he asked, resigned, already knowing the answer.

“No. It seems like a big deal, I want to know,” said Aang. “Why was Sokka so shocked that Toph knew what it was? Why was he so embarrassed? Why didn’t he want to tell me?”

Zuko pinched the bridge of his nose, almost - _almost_ \- wishing he had died a painful, fiery death instead in the Boiling Rock lava. This was going to be very, _very_ uncomfortable.

“It’s...how a man gets a woman pregnant,” he hedged, trying to avoid having to go into detail.

Aang just looked even more confused. “What? How? Why was Sokka trying to get Suki pregnant? I know babies are supposed to be good things and all, but we’re in the middle of a war right now!”

“That’s not...the only thing it’s used for. People also do it because it...feels good.” Zuko was _really_ wishing for Azula to show up and try to kill them right now. Normally, he would pray for the exact opposite, but this was a dire situation and he really needed to get out of it. Like, right _now._ Unfortunately, it seemed like the spirits were intent on making him suffer. Why was nothing happening _today_ of all days? 

“What?”

 _Please let someone come murder us,_ thought Zuko. _Or send in a herd of stampeding buffalo. Hell, it would even be nice to see my father right about now!_

“Zuko, come on, I don’t see why it’s such a big deal. Just tell me what sex is,” said Aang.

Giving up on any sort of intervention that would save him, Zuko resigned himself to an extremely uncomfortable conversation.

Aang couldn’t look _any_ of them in the eye for a week after that, and went out of his way to avoid touching Katara.

“What did you _say_ to him?” Sokka whispered to him in awe, watching as Aang jumped twenty feet in the air to avoid a hug from Katara, who just watched him with growing concern.

Zuko just shook his head, preferring not to relive that particular traumatising experience.

  
  



End file.
